Tokyo 2020 should be held ‘at any price’: Japan’s Olympic minister

TOKYO (AFP) – Tokyo 2020 should be held next year “at any cost” given the efforts of athletes to be prepared, Japan’s Olympic minister said on Tuesday, a day after IOC’s John Coates told the AFP that the postponed Games would continue in 2021 “. with or without Covid”.

“For next year’s Games, athletes will continue to work hard in the environments they find themselves in. So I feel like we have to put up with it at any cost,” said Seiko Hashimoto when asked about the statements of the Vice President of the International Olympic Committee. , Coates.

“I think Mr Coates felt reassured that the Tokyo Games can be held with closer coordination of efforts,” he added.

Coates told AFP in an exclusive interview on Monday that he was confident that the delayed Games would open as planned next year, and promised that it will be the “Games that conquered Covid.”

”It will take place with or without Covid. The Games will start on July 23 next year, ”said Coates, who heads the IOC Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Games.

“The Games were to be, its theme, the Reconstruction Games after the devastation of the tsunami,” he said, referring to the catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.

“Now, these will be the Games that conquered Covid, the light at the end of the tunnel.”

A spokesperson for the Tokyo 2020 organizers declined to comment directly on whether they agreed with Coates’ confident assessment.

But Masa Takaya said the remarks showed “that the IOC team is fully committed to holding the Games next year.”

In a landmark decision, the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the coronavirus and are now scheduled to open on July 23, 2021.

But Japan’s borders are still largely closed to foreign visitors and a vaccine is months or even years away, fueling speculation about whether the Games are feasible.

Officials have made it clear that another delay would not be possible and there are signs that public enthusiasm in Japan is waning.

A poll this summer found that only one in four Japanese want them to go ahead next year, and most support another postponement or cancellation.

A task force that includes organizers and Japanese government officials who will develop countermeasures against the coronavirus met for the first time this week.

Takaya said the organizers will continue to “carefully monitor” the evolution of the pandemic and “will do everything possible in coordination with all relevant organizations to ensure a safe and secure Games.”